Jul
27
I’ve been adding plugins and playing with sidebars. Part of the reason I put this blog up was to learn about blogging.
I’d appreciate any comments you have on any design or funtionality you have any thoughts about.
UPDATE: Random spaces between paragraphs. I have no idea what’s up with that.
UPDATE: It’s a new theme. New toys!
July 28th, 2008 at 12:25 am
One of the things with Wordpress (and especially other CMS’s) is that it can be really tempting to use too many plugins and too many fancy knick-knacks. I’ve found that the simpler and cleaner the design the better.
Here’s some things that are just my opinion from a design perspective:
1. It’s all about the comments. If you can make commenting convenient and fun people are more apt to participate. I haven’t tried using it yet, but I hear Disquss is amazing. Make it simple for your commenter to develop a presence and gain notoriety.
2. Avoid cramming too much information into the left and ride of the body of the blog. Too many menu items and link distract from t
the story, which is what people came her for anyway.
3. Don’t overdue it. Usually people will have like eight different ways to get to archived or recent posts. There should only be one. This eliminates clutter, and makes it easier to navigate.
4. The text of your actual blog post should be the thing that stands out the most. Don’t use lots of text links on the side, instead try using rollovers, pictures, flash, anything else.
5. Develop a brand or identity. What sets you apart as an individual? IS it memorable? Get something distinct and turn it into a theme, get a good logo or header based on it. Keep things consistent and based around this and people are more apt to remember your blog and feel a part of something.
July 30th, 2008 at 11:52 am
@TheInfamosuGdub -
Thanks for your thoughts. I hope to end my experimentation at some point and just write. But until then…